Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Feb;12(1):61-66.
doi: 10.5114/jcb.2020.92698. Epub 2020 Feb 28.

The role of vaginal brachytherapy in stage I endometrial serous cancer: a systematic review

Valentina Lancellotta  1 , Francesca De Felice  2 , Lisa Vicenzi  3 , Alfredo Antonacci  4 , Valentina Cerboneschi  5 , Sara Costantini  3 , Daniela di Cristino  6 , Luca Tagliaferri  1 , Annamaria Cerrotta  7 , Andrea Vavassori  8 , Sergio Gribaudo  9 , Alessandro Colombo  10 , Francesco Lucà  11 , Raffaele Barbara  12 , Monica Mangoni  13 , Francesco Marampon  2 , Daniela Musio  2 , Filippo Bellati  14 , Francesco Torcia  14 , Vincenzo Tombolini  2 , Mattia Falchetto Osti  15 , Vitaliana De Sanctis  15
Affiliations
Review

The role of vaginal brachytherapy in stage I endometrial serous cancer: a systematic review

Valentina Lancellotta et al. J Contemp Brachytherapy. 2020 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: Serous adenocarcinoma (uterine serous carcinoma - USC) is a rare and aggressive histologic subtype of endometrial cancer, with a high-rate of recurrence and poor prognosis. The adjuvant treatment for stage I patients is unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of stage I USC treated exclusively with chemotherapy plus vaginal brachytherapy (VBT).

Material and methods: A systematic research using PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane library was conducted to identify full articles evaluating the efficacy of VBT in patients with stage I USC. A search in ClinicalTrials.gov was performed in order to detect ongoing or recently completed trials, and in PROSPERO for searching ongoing or recently completed systematic reviews.

Results: All studies were retrospective and 364 of evaluated patients were found. The average local control was 97.5% (range, 91-100%), the disease free-survival was 88% (range, 82-94%), the overall survival was 93% (range, 72-100%), the specific cancer survival was 89.4% (range, 84.8-94%), and the G3-G4 toxicity was 0-8%.

Conclusions: These data support the concept that in adequately selected patients, VBT alone may be a suitable radiotherapy technique in women with stage I USC who underwent surgical staging and received adjuvant chemotherapy.

Keywords: brachytherapy; endometrial cancer; outcomes; serous adenocarcinoma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
PRISMA flow-chart
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hendrickson M, Ross J, Eifel P et al. . Uterine papillary serous carcinoma: a highly malignant form of endometrial adenocarcinoma. Am J Surg Pathol 1982; 6: 93-108. - PubMed
    1. Slomovitz BM, Burke TW, Eifel PJ et al. . Uterine papillary serous carcinoma (UPSC): a single institution review of 129 cases. Gynecol Oncol 2003; 91: 463-469. - PubMed
    1. Nicklin JL, Copeland LJ. Endometrial papillary serous carcinoma: patterns of spread and treatment. Clin Obstet Gynecol 1996; 39: 686-695. - PubMed
    1. Tropé C, Kristensen GB, Abeler VM. Clear-cell and papillary serous cancer: treatment options. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol 2001; 15: 433-446. - PubMed
    1. Matthews RP, Hutchinson-Colas J, Maiman M et al. . Papillary serous and clear cell type lead to poor prognosis of endometrial carcinoma in black women. Gynecol Oncol 1997; 65: 206-212. - PubMed